Time to tick off another item in my "life to do list"... this time, the recent addition of "learn how to perform a castration"; something every young independent woman should know, surely?! To help me with this, I re-introduce the delightful Emily from Australia, who is actually a genuine qualified vet, so it's not such a strange activity afterall (for her at least)!

The clinic in which Emily was volunteering operates on a donations basis, and therefore receives barely any incoming funds, as most people cannot afford to pay - hence them bringing their pets to a charity clinic for treatment. It was set up by (and is run by) an American woman called Donna who is involved with various charities and is one of the most kind-hearted people I've met for a while. If you are a vet and will be in Nicaragua, then going to help out here is a really worthwhile cause as they only have one vet (Jason) working in the clinic, and as great as he is, an extra pair of hands is always welcome. (I've got Donna's details if anyone wants them.)

All in all I spent almost two full days loitering and observing in the clinic, and the majority of operations I saw were neuters/spays of cats and dogs. After spending an entire afternoon in the clinic, no boys came in to get their balls tended to. This left me slightly disappointed as I had only seen various girls have their bits and pieces pulled out, and one dog having half of his teeth out because they were so minging. However the next day saw a couple of young male cats to be neutured, although one of them had no balls to speak of yet. As much as this was a nice introduction to the world of castration, it still had not satisfied my curiosities. I was very impressed at Emily's ability to perform a "one stitch spay", as was she once she had done it for the first time!

Fortunately (for me, not so much for him), the next day saw a dog who had come in with a problem with his penis, having to not only have his balls taken away, but the whole lot. Kaiser was a beautiul dog, who aside from his problems downstairs also had a bad case of ticks which I helped to pull out and dispose of. I felt so sorry for him, and it was really sad to have to take away all of his manhood - this was not what I had expected when I came here! It was fascinating to see Emily in action, and I got to pretend to be a nurse for the day helping out with various bits and bobs which were within my relatively limited capabilities.

On a more happy note I discovered my favourite Nicaragua dish: frito mixto, mmmm, just thinking about it is making me almost dribble! Simply consisting of some meat, rice, deep fried thinly sliced plantain and salad all wrapped up in a banana leaf. I don't know why it tasted so good, just the classic great taste of salty deep fried carbs and greasy meat I guess... makes a pleasant change from rice and beans!

Granada was also home to a "ride-by ass-slapping" attack by some teenage boy on Emily. Whilst she stood in shock at what had just happened, I managed to scream out at the top of my voice a phrase I had learned from Jason earlier that day, much to the entertainment of the locals that were stood nearby. I will not repeat here what that phrase was, but rest assured it is not a pleasant one! This little incident happened on our way to the pub quiz at Granada's Irish bar (every city has one), which it turns out is very difficult/some would say impossible. Needless to say we did not win the grand prize, or even second prize of free laundry... they really know what backpackers want!

On one of Emily's days off we ventured to the nearby small islands that are within the lake (Lago Nicaragua) near to Granada. A visit to "Las Isletas" is a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours, and it was nice to get out of the city, even though the city itself is quite beautiful. We visited a small fortress, Monkey Island and had a swim in the lake. Monkey Island is an interesting one as it is just some trees sticking out of the water (at least now as the level is so high), and there is a group of spider and cappucchino monkeys that have clearly just been put there by someone as a way of drawing in tourists. The monkeys have no way they can escape unless they manage to stow away on one of the boats. It is a strange place to see them as they do not belong on a tiny island in the middle of the lake. I felt quite guilty for contributing towards their imprisonment, but by the time I realised what was going on it was too late.

Once I had achieved everything I wanted to in Granada (and had one last frito mixto), I had to say goodbye to Emily once again. However, I left her behind safe with the knowledge that she would be following soon after me, and will be coming to join me in my next destination to help celebrate my birthday... without her scalpel!